Many music fans know that Pete Wentz, the bassist for the rock band Fall Out Boy, found himself overexposed last year when sexually explicit pictures of him surfaced on the Internet. Many also know that Keith Urban, the country superstar, recently endured a stint in rehab.
Akon’s raunchy onstage dancing with a teenager concerned Verizon.
Despite the bad publicity, both acts have received a marketing push from Verizon, through promotions as “featured” artists on its mobile network or elsewhere.
Yet it was Akon, a smooth, Senegalese-American R&B singer, whose conduct in an amateur video circulating online recently seemed to cross a line for Verizon, which last week said it would cease advertisements involving him. Verizon also terminated its sponsorship of the pop star Gwen Stefani’s tour, for which Akon is the opening act. The move by Verizon has sent a chill through the ranks of touring pop artists and agents, who are left scratching their heads over their vulnerability to such penalties.
Verizon — the telecommunications company, which markets music services including ring tones and live-performance videos — quietly moved to end its affiliation with Akon last week after critics, including conservative political commentators, called attention to a video of him simulating sex with a fan onstage during a club performance in Trinidad several weeks ago. The fan, according to news accounts in Trinidad, turned out to be under 18 (and a pastor’s daughter). Yesterday Akon offered an apology that appeared to deflect part of the blame on to the club that admitted the girl.
Analysts and industry executives said that corporate sponsors typically study artists’ images before deciding to back them, and often press for the contracts to include moral clauses that allow the company to back out if an artist commits a crime or other misconduct. But analysts said that the recent episode with Akon could prompt them to take an even more expansive view.
“Artists that are sponsored by companies are probably getting some feedback to watch their behavior,” said William Chipps, a senior editor of the IEG Sponsorship Report. “I think, nowadays, most artists are savvy enough to realize that their actions have consequences. If you’re working with a sponsor, bad behavior could jeopardize that relationship.”
But others said Verizon should have more fully understood Akon before choosing to promote him. The first two singles from his recent album, “Konvicted,” include sexual references and became hits. Yet others say Akon’s stage show on Ms. Stefani’s tour has been relatively tame, and that Verizon acted unfairly, and perhaps without considering whether Akon could have known his onstage dance partner was under age.
“I want to sincerely apologize for the embarrassment and any pain I’ve caused to the young woman who joined me onstage, her family and the Trinidad community for the events at my concert,” Akon said in a statement.
Jim Guerinot, Ms. Stefani’s manager, said yesterday that although Verizon has the right to sever ties with Akon, “this kid is not getting a fair shake,” he said, referring to Akon. He added, “I strongly disagree with their take on it.”
Mr. Guerinot added that it was also unfair to pull the sponsorship from Ms. Stefani’s tour: “How this has anything to do with Gwen Stefani I have no idea.”
Verizon was expected to pay Ms. Stefani the cash portion of its sponsorship agreement, said to be around $2 million, but will not continue its advertising and other promotions related to the tour, which may have carried an even higher value.
“We made a decision, based on what we saw, and in this case, our own customers, who we listen to, were reacting,” James Gerace, a Verizon spokesman, said. He said Verizon would remove Akon from an array of Internet and store promotions, though it had not removed his music from its ring-tone service.
While the company may have appeased some critics, it may also have upset many fans. Akon’s album, “Konvicted,” has sold more than 2.2 million copies and is No. 11 on the Billboard chart. Ms. Stefani’s album has sold more than 1.2 million copies, according to Nielsen SoundScan.
One effect of the move was the cancellation of a contest.
One fan of Ms. Stefani, April Van Zandt, of Landers, Calif., said she and several friends she had met online had labored on a home-made Gwen Stefani music video for a Verizon-backed contest that was withdrawn because of the company’s move. Ms. Van Zandt, 27, said she and her friends — fans whom she has become close to but never met — were hoping to win the contest, in which the prize was a trip to California, so they could meet for the first time. “I would think they would lose some business over this, not just me,” said Ms. Van Zandt, who added that she has a Verizon phone. “People are very upset.”
And while Verizon may have distanced itself from Akon, it has not severed the connection completely: Ms. Stefani’s tour, with Akon, is set to hit four Verizon Wireless-branded theaters during the rest of the American segment of her tour, which runs through June. The show is scheduled for the Verizon Wireless amphitheater in Charlotte, N.C., on Saturday.
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